Day Nine: Reading Ideas

My taste in books is pretty unique. I prefer fiction, science fiction and fantasy specifically, love a good murder mystery and don't mind some 'brain candy' romance to spice things up. I also love teen fiction, young adult and have a fairly extensive collection of children's books that are mine and not for the boys.

I started wondering what I have read over the past year. I read most of my books on my iPhone using our local library e-book app. That way I don't pay overdue fees and have access to a fairly good list of new releases and classics. As you can imagine, I have very little time to even enjoy a book these days so my book reading stints are usually short and intense. Luckily, I am a very fast reader and a poor house keeper.

Here is a list of some authors I have enjoyed in 2015:

Nora Roberts - for good, light reading, I turn to Roberts. The woman is a writing superstar. She is so prolific that her publishers often have three or four books a year in the vault awaiting publishing. Those are in addition to the four or five that are published each year, she is that fast. I find Roberts to be a huge inspiration for someone who would like to write full-time for a living. Her best advice for writing a book/short story/blog post? Park your arse in the chair and start typing. I like to think she'd applaud the 31 day challenge.

Kathy Reichs - told you I loved a good murder mystery. I loved Temperance Brennan before the hit TV series became so popular and continue to prefer the 'Bones' of the books versus the TV series (though I do like the series too). I love Reichs' attention to detail and I love how Tempe is so affected by the bones she helps find stories for.

Nalini Singh - Right into the realms of vampires, angels and archangels, Singh is pure escapism. At least I'm pretty sure we don't live in a world alongside vampires... Her powerful female characters are inspiring.

Kelley Armstrong - Armstrong is awesome. I love both her adult and young adult fiction. 'Bitten' was my introductory book to this author and I was hooked. Mind you, you need to like werewolves, vampires and a necromancer or two to get into her writing. I am trying to read everything that she's even written, I enjoy her writing that much. And? She's Canadian!

I also really enjoy writing based on a dystopian futures. I've read Joelle Charbonneau's 'The Testing', which is the first book in her Testing series and really enjoyed it. There seems to be a theme to my literature enjoyment in that, once again, this book centres around a strong female lead.

More into fantasy is Sara Rassch and 'Snow Like Ashes' the first in what I'm hoping will be a lengthy series. This is a teen fantasy fiction at its finest and both DH and I enjoyed this book after I made him download it and read it too.

Nevada Barr - I worked at a Terra Nova National Park as a lifeguard for two summers and I love how Barr's heroine (yep, another female lead) moves from national park to national park. Apart from the murders (I wouldn't do well with the real version of those), her obvious knowledge of the US national park systems is entertaining as well as her very likeable, fallible heroine.

Elly Griffiths - Griffiths is a UK writer and I've read all she's written so hope for more to come soon. Her murder mysteries centre around a forty something female archaeologist (I have a soft spot for archaeologists probably because Hairy Brother is one) and forensic archaeology. I can't wait to see where this series goes and wish the library had more e-books from Griffiths.

Not a bad list on a whim. How about you? What have you been reading this year?

Day Eight: It is Getting Hard

It's day eight of this crazy writing challenge and I have to admit that I'm struggling. The pattern of my days doesn't change much and don't seem to be interesting enough for me to share on the blog. I started this challenge on a whim so don't have an 'idea file' to pull from. Maybe I will next year?

Here are some reflections on today, October 8, 2015:

• My youngest child turned four today. I can't believe that my little boy is in fact pretty big. He is tall for his age, precocious as anything (today he told me that he loved me and was going to be with me for the rest of his life) yet surprisingly shy with people outside the family and on the telephone. 
• It turns out I can make twenty-three cupcakes in an afternoon with a four year old 'helping.'
• Cupcakes are perfectly acceptable birthday 'cakes' for four, six and eight year olds. It is the unusual year that a boy's birthday party falls on the actual birthday day so cupcakes are my back up. Youngest loved his. I may have eaten eighteen of twenty three...
• Well, maybe not eighteen but close.
• It was a beautiful, 16 degree C day here today. I realize days like this are numbered and I'm pleased to say the boys spent quite a bit of their after school time outside on the back deck versus inside using an electronic device.
• There were no electronic devices used this afternoon because Eldest and Middlest acted up during our trip to Dominion (grocery store and pharmacy) when I went in to pick up a prescription. I do not believe that lying across the floor of the pharmacy and rolling around to be acceptable behaviour.
• They took the consequence of no Minecraft/iPad well.
• I need to spend more time outside like I make my children do. It's so easy to get caught up in the responsibilities of keeping a house and forgetting that ignoring a beautiful day is my loss.
• The first flower of my mother's hydrangea plant is the most gorgeous blue colour. This plant was given to my mother for Mother's Day about three years ago by one of my brothers and his wife. I was given the responsibility of keeping it alive until Mudder and Fadder move into their new old house (yes, I said that right). This is the first bloom and it's a stunner. I need to research when to cut it as I want to dry it. Maybe now as it's starting to brown on one side. 
• I'll learn about drying hydrangea's in the morning as I'm too tired now.
• The end.

Day Seven: Felted Fun

One of the things that spoiled me when we lived in Kanata, ON was the access we had to everything and anything. Quilting classes, knitting classes, knitting speakers, fibre festivals, quilting groups, quilting bus tours, quilting charity groups, decorative painting classes, sewing classes, not to mention quilting stores, fabric stores and yarn stores and on and on and on. It was heaven.

In my area of Newfoundland and Labrador, I am blessed to be close to some of the most plentiful yarn and fabric stores in any one area and I am grateful for that. The economy in our province is on a low right now, however, and that means some of my favourite stores are either having to close or running the risk of closing. As a craftsperson and artist, I find that fact very, very disturbing. Although the Internet has made online shopping and accessibility to arts and craft supplies easier, there is nothing like walking into a shop and speaking to the sales person about the products they sell.

One of our local gems of a fabric and yarn shop is Fiberlilly.

It's a small area stuffed with goodness and everyone who works there is knowledgeable and friendly. I decided to sign up for a needle felting course and, with the help of my babysitting brother (and thanks to D who was my original Plan A!), managed to get out for a 7:00 - 9:30 PM class.

I've been wanting to take a needle felting course for awhile now. I'm interested in its application for adding texture to my hooked rugs and as well as making some of the wee creatures you can make with needle felting have stolen my heart (Google needle felted border collies or sheep or gnomes or...)!

Last night, we felted wee pumpkins with faces.

It was amazingly frustrating to be at the beginning of a learning curve for me for a change and I really enjoyed it once I relaxed a bit. I was determined to finish one pumpkin last night.

And I did.

Back

Meet Granpump!

Granpapump is under construction!

Day Six: Free Printables!

Day six of this challenge and I have NO idea what to write about. As the writing muse has eluded me, I've decided to do something a little different and get YOU to craft along with me. Ready to play along?

I'm a great fan of Pinterest (you can find me here if you like to follow me) and all of the wonderful things you can find on there. I'm also a great fan of free printables and have found many, many wonderful projects to print and frame (the most recent one I framed can be found here. I'll wait while you go look at it... Nice isn't it?). But every now and then, I can't find a printable that says or looks like what I want.

This was the position I found myself in last Father's Day when I wanted to make some meaningful but inexpensive presents for DH. The poster above is ideal for my bicycle loving husband and the one below totally representative of his outlook on life. These were fun to make and the set of three looks great above his dresser. I am only including two of the three printables here due to copyright reasons.

You can click on the link below for each image, save it and print it off on card stock at home or save it to a USB and get it printed at a business supply store. Cheap and easy decorating - my favourite kind. I have two frames that I change the contents of seasonally. I like the instant refresh and it feels like 'made' something.

Regardless of your interest in hanging them in your home or not, these printables were fun to make and I've enjoyed DH and I learning how to attach a printable image to the ol' blog. A whole new world!

Don't forget to tell me what you think and if someone could test a link below and tell me whether or not you can print them, I would be eternally grateful.

Keep Calm Printable here:

Go Outside Printable here

Enjoy!

Day Five: Back to Normal

After a hectic week of party planning and hosting, we are back to our regular routines here. Sunday morning we enjoyed a family photo shoot with the very talented Maggie at Flatrock Falls. I cannot wait to see them! It's the first formal family picture we've had taken since Greenwood, NS when Iain was about a year old so I'd say we were overdue.

The rest of the week involves kids activities (swimming, Cubs, karate, play group etc) and trying to clean and organize a continually crazy household.

The question is, what artistic endeavour can I work on this week?

I know what I was working on the weekend before last. The end of September, I headed out with three other brave souls to beautiful Port Rexton, Trinity Bay to stay in Erin House (highly recommend it if you're in the area and want a gorgeous, roomy spot that sleeps 4 - 6 (two double/ queen beds plus one room with two twins) for a couple of nights. The goal? Craft until you drop.

It was wonderful. Coming home was sooooooo hard.

Our view.

The main living space.

I love this idea and DH and I have a pew already. the wheels are turning...

More view. I couldn't get enough!

We left home on Friday and got there in time for supper at the Dock Marina Restaurant across the bay from our cottage in gorgeous, historic Trinity. If you haven't visited this part of Newfoundland and Labrador yet, you really need too. Beautiful.

We all had a fish dish of some form - fish cakes, cod au gratin (me), fish and chips and a seafood linguine. All tasted delightful and the huge portions resulted in none of us being able to have dessert.

One of my friend's and I went for a walk both mornings. How could I not with places like below to explore?

Back to the crafting. The project I'm working on is due at Christmas. Its recipient might be reading this blog occasionally so this is a peek/tease at what I was doing. I love the colours and the flannel fabric. I'd worked hard the week before piecing the top so that I could work on quilting over the craft retreat weekend.

Stipple quilting. Not perfect but not bad.

We went out for a few hours break on Saturday afternoon and headed over to the lighthouse that overlooks Trinity.

Then for some shopping. Here is the new chocolate shop in Trinity. Wonderful. Some may have come home with me. There might still be some left in the house but only because they were ear marked for presents and I don't eat presents. Yet...

This little gallery by Elizabeth Burry was a craftsperson's dream. So cute with a craft shop and attached studio. You can check out their wares here. I almost bought a gorgeous carved and painted fish there for the boys bathroom and am still considering it. Representatives from the gallery will be at the Glacier Christmas Market and so will I at a Steeped Tea booth for an afternoon and evening so hopefully I will see them there.

We are hoping to make this craft retreat an annual event and I simply cannot wait for the next one. Erin House and the area was wonderful and we are considering that being an annual destination. Luckily, the St. John's MFRC is planning a day time retreat the weekend of the 23rd of October. It isn't overnight but is over the Saturday and Sunday. It's always nice to have something else exciting to look forward to!

Day Four: A New Kind of Heat

This project has been a long time in the making and has been DH's baby for the past two and a half years. In the winter of 2012, we lost our power, including our heat (we are on an electric heat pump), for five days. It was rather chilly and, by day five, there was no longer any novelty in living in an 11 degree C house. We had it better than some though as our toilets continued to flush and the hot water tank had lots of toasty hot water days after the power went off.

Once the power returned, DH and I had a serious discussion about two things: a generator or a wood stove. Both of us loved the idea of a stove that would offer ambient heat and enjoyment throughout the year and which could also be called into action should (when) we lose power again. Neither of us wanted to invest a lot of money into a generator that I would have to learn to use during DH's travels (and you all know how I do with that kind of thing) and only every few years. The main problem was the cost of either but the wood stove won the bet and we began planning.

It took many months of discussion to decide upon where to put a stove in our open plan living/dining/kitchen. Should it go along the wall as a fireplace? Should it stand in the middle of the room? Neither of us liked the idea of a black pipe running up through the room so we discussed creating a decorative wall that would go behind a free standing wood stove. Then we decided a rock wall would be nice and also settled on a Scandinavian styled Morso stove that would allow lots of heat and enough room on top to allow us to boil water or use a frying pan.

This is the biggest completed project in our house to date that we have done ourselves and was not without its challenges. We started in 2013.

Our rock 'wall' became a centre column large
enough to  house the pipe through the ceiling and the boys
briefly before the facing went on.

DH did a wonderful job on the rock wall column we designed. However, he wasn't happy with the way the corners fit together and, a year later, took all of the rock back off, fixed the dimensions of the column and refaced it.

The interior of the column is constructed using 2X4 and concrete board before being faced by cultured stone. 

The original design for the hearth included left over slate tile from the roof of our home in Germany. 

However, we had originally decided to edge the hearth with the same type of stone on our kitchen island and the $700 price tag forced us to another solution.

The slate looked gorgeous and both DH and I loved the sentimental nature of it but we really needed a less expensive solution. When I did the Interior Design program in Ottawa, I because fascinated with some of the gorgeous applications of using concrete in residential interiors and had purchased several books on the topic. DH took those to heart, started studying and began to design his own polished concrete hearth. He did a beautiful job.

We chose the rock facing based on the colourations of rocks local to our area. This means that the wall reflects the exterior of our property so fits right into the house like it was intended to be there.

I won't say that the facing was easy to put on but it wasn't the most frustrating part of this project. I think that was the period between when DH finished the tiled hearth and when he started taking the wall and hearth apart to fix the dimensions. That was about a year long wait.

Taking the hearth apart. Eldest was quite upset about the change so DH
made sure to involve all of them in the process. That seemed to help. 

It was a long road but eventually has turned out beautifully. DH is pleased with the re-jigged column and we all love the new stove.

Bringing the hearth up from the garage. That's one
heavy piece of concrete!

A new hearth!

Over the summer, DH took a week off and fixed the column.

It looks awesome! And a year later, the stove installers came back to install our new stove. We needed professional installers to do that to be covered by our house insurance.

First lighting. 

Ready.

Having a fire in at night is still a novelty and we are enjoying every minute of it.

***

You might have noticed that I've been playing with the blog's formatting. I'm slowly getting it to look the way I want so appreciate your patience when you've looked a some psychedelic blog template choices over the past few weeks and wondered where my head was. I hope you like the new look I'm developing.